LOME, June 8 (Xinhuanet) -- Togolese President Faure Essozimna Gnassingbe on Wednesday named Edem Kodjo, a moderate opposition leader, as the West African nation's new prime minister.

    The long-expected nomination, coming over one month after Gnassingbe took office, follows the president's rejection Tuesday of the demands of the opposition parties, on grounds that they were trying to undermine his constitutional powers.

    Gnassingbe had offered to form a coalition government with Togo's main opposition parties but on late Tuesday he rejected their demands for giving the prime minister more power and their suggestion for dismissing the president and the parliament.

    Kodjo, 67, previously served as prime minister from 1994 to 1996 under President Faure Gnassingbe's father, Gnassingbe Eyadema,and is widely regarded as a prime minister who knows to say "rightor wrong" to Eyadema when needed.

    He also served as secretary-general of the now-defunct Organization of African Unity, the forerunner to the African Union.

    Kodjo is currently leader of the moderate opposition Patriotic Pan-African Party, which is not part of the main opposition coalition that united to challenge Gnassingbe in the April polls.

    He was credited for helping to turn the tottering Togolese economy around in 1994.

    Gnassingbe succeeded his father in an election on April 24. Street fighting broke out between security forces and opposition-party supporters upon the announcement of Gnassingbe's electoral victory, leaving dozens dead and sending more than 30,000 Togolese fleeing into neighboring nations.

    Gnassingbe has spent much of his first three weeks in office meeting with various opposition groups in an effort to end the crisis by forming a government of national unity. Enditem